. >> narrator: now he was running for the u.s. senate in illinois and was the keynote speaker at the 2004 democratic convention. >> the next senator from the state of illinois, barack obama! (crowd cheering) >> narrator: he was virtually unknown. but he had, in effect, been writing the speech since punahou, and oxy, and those long years in new york city. >> tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. my father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in kenya. >> he put himself in the middle of the american story and he made people feel that there was still an america that could come together despite all of the divisions, and that in some way or another he was able to embody those aspirations about what americans thought they wanted to see happen in the country. >> there is not a liberal america and a conservative america, there is the united states of america. there is not a black america, a white america, a latino america, an asian america, there's t